2008 BRCA National -Talywain RD3


2WD Photos	4WD Photos

Talywain is the first BRCA 10th Off Road National outside of England for - well, a while anyway. Talywain is a small ex.mining area in South East Wales. The track is located near the top of a very large hill and our journey up along winding sheep infested roads was a little scary.
The venue is primarilly a golf driving range but also features a large permenant 1/8th buggy track to one side. For the 1/10th National however the club decided to build a temporary track on the driving range itself, using the natural features of the site along with various man-made jumps and bumps to liven things up. The track is 100% grass surface, or at least was before the cars started rip it up and turn it to mud & dirt.

2WD - 31st May 2008
109 drivers lined up for the 2WD event and Darren Bloomfield went quickest in round one and was the only driver to break through for 12 laps in a time of 323.63. Neil Cragg was up to second but missed out on 12 laps to finish on 11 laps in 302.36. Darren is the reigning 2WD National Champion but missed the first two rounds due to 1/8th buggy commitments.

Fastest drivers in round 1

	Name	Result
1	Darren Bloomfield	12/323.63
2	Neil Cragg	11/302.36
3	Phil Sleigh	11.304.30
4	Ellis Stafford	11/305.71
5	Paul Bradby	11/306.26
6	Tom Yardy	11/307.14
7	Simon Moss	11/308.28
8	Danny McGee	11/314.13
9	Tony Truman	11/314.54
10	Chris Doughty	11/315.72

Top 10 in round 2.

	Name	Result
1	Neil Cragg	11/300.65
2	Phil Sleigh	11/305.52
3	Darren Bloomfield	11/305.99
4	Tom Cockerill	11/307.61
5	Ellis Stafford	11/308.85
6	Simon Moss	11/308.20
7	Chris Doughty	11/310.04
8	Tony Truman	11/312.17
9	Tom Yardy	11/316.46
10	Paul Penney	11/317.06

Top 10 in round 3

	Name	Result
1	Darren Bloomfield	11/305.03
2	Ellis Stafford	11/309.14
3	Tom Yardy	11/309.14
4	Simon Moss	11/310.51
5	Lee Martin	11/312.26
6	Tom Cockerill	11/316.57
7	Paul Bradby	11/318.30
8	Chris Doughty	11/318.81
9	Grant Williams	11/320.55
10	Paul Robinson	11/321.52

Round 4 finishing positions (top 10)

	Name
1	Darren Bloomfield
2	Lee Martin
3	Simon Moss
4	Neil Cragg
5	Phil Sleigh
6	Tony Truman
7	Ellis Stafford
8	Tom Cockerill
9	Grant Williams
10	Chris Doughty

Interview with Phil Sleigh - conducted at the previous National event, Oswestry.

Your surname is Sleigh, do you like sledging?
Yes, I don't do any other winter activities aart from snowballing.

Your name is Phil, do you like pie? Do you get mad when people refer to you as Phillip?
Ehh, yes, I prefer sweet pie - apple, with custard definitely. and sugar on top. No i don't mind - it's my given name, i get mad when it's spelt with two l's though.

When you turn 40 will you be known as Phillip?
I imagine so, yeah. it's an old persons name.

Do you fancy racing other up and coming classes, ie 1/8th brushless, and do you think this class will be popular?
Yeah id like to have a go at them, but this is my primary class, so it's finding the free time to race other classes.

What do you think is the best new addition to racing in the last 12 months?
The amount of current chassis there are on the market now, gives everyone plenty of choice. Definitely should be more 2wd chassis available, Hopefully there will be a HB 2wd soon - no release date yet.

How big do you think the gap is in presteige between indoor and outdoor racing these days? Do you think the gap is closing with series such as worksop starting up again?
I think it is quite a big gap, and it's getting bigger Worksop is helping but there are also a few outdoor series runing in winter, and the wether isnt usually too bad. indoor racing seems to be more of a northern thing.

Yours is the only green car in the A final (?) Is green your favourite clour, and do you sometimes lose it in the grass?
Green's not my favourite colour no that would be blue. The exellent GRP sticker is how i find my car.

Above: Phil in action at Talywain

Have you raced abroad much in the past, would you like to race abroad more, and where?
I've only done 3 european meetings 9champs0 and i'd definitely like to do racing over in america. i'd like to do the cactus.

Do you watch TV, and if yes, what is your favourite program?
i watch far too much tv, current favourite has gotta be heros, closely followed by lost.

Do you think that age affects your racing skill? Are you faster in your 30's than you were in your 20's?
i don't think it does probably when you get to 40 or 50 perhaps it might affect, im probably no quicker than when i was 20, just more consistent.

Do you drink Chod? What's your favourite beverage?
Chodss is only an occasional thing. if it had to be a shot it would be slippry nipple but my normal favourite is vodka and redbull.

Sintered or bonded?
Sintered.

Do you start with the same setup for every meeting? Do you ever alter it radically?
Normally, unless we've found something drastically better ike we have today. no, i don't like to make too many changes in one go.

What advice would you give to a good driver who wants to break into being a really good driver, what do you think makes the difference?
OPractice, practice, practice, definitely. if you'v having troube on one particular section of the track, go and ook at the track, it's not normally your car, it's soomething on the track.

What are the best and worst things about racing currently?
Best thing is brushless, makes your life easy. worst thing is probably inconsistent tyres.

What is your favourite surface to race on?
Astroturf, all astro like stotfold.

How many years have you been racing, and when did you make your first A final?
I think 19.5 years, i know where it was, i don't know when. my first reginal A was wrexham, my first national A was at aylesbury.

If you could have any super power, what would it be?
Flight.

Do you have any set up advice for grass tracks such as Oswestry?
not set up advice, but on jumps, don't overjump them, try and find downslopes on all the jumps. when you're in the air you can't go any faster. Todays setup is top secret until adam tells me further.

Thanks Phil! you're a star!!!

PieSpeed is growing!

Overall Qualifying positions.

Position	Name
1	Darren Bloomfield
2	Neil Cragg
3	Phil Sleigh
4	Ellis Stafford
5	Lee Martin
6	Simon Moss
7	Tom Yardy
8	Tom Cockerill
9	Paul Bradby
10	Tony Truman

A Final Leg One
Darren Bloomfield got away from pole with Neil Cragg chasing hard. Neil made a mistake an dropped back a long way allowing Darren the breathing room - not that he needed it. Darren pulled out an impressive lead. Starting from 4th on the Grid, Ellis Stafford was slowly working his way up the order and after a mistake from Darren, Ellis was suddenly hot on the rear of Darrens car. Both drivers looked fairly evenly matched but Ellis just reeled Darren right in at the end of the straight with his agressive sideways driving style.
Tom Cockerill was now up to third but a long way off the leaders - though the battle between the front pair was slowing them down a little and as if to prove the point Ellis and Darren came together allowing Tom Cockerill to close the gap and have a sight of the lead.

Coming around the last lap and Tom Cockerill fell back a little after a mistake, pushed hard by Tom Yardy. Up front Darren was in the lead with Ellis doing all he could over the last few corners to make his move. It wasn't to be though and Darren took the first leg, Ellis second and Tom Cockerill a well deserved third.

A Final Leg Two
Darren got away but coming around for his 4th lap with a nice lead Darren made a mistake over the small table top jump after the straight, getting stuck for several seconds before being marshalled. Darren dropped to third as Ellis Stafford took up the lead with Neil Cragg in second. Neil Cragg looked quick and put pressure on Ellis but couldn't get past. Coming up to the last few corners Ellis looked to back off a little to avoid any errors - Neil cut the last but one corner a little tight and any chance of a pass was over. Ellis took the second leg with Neil Cragg second and Tom Yardy third.


Bloomfield gets it wrong

Neil Cragg got close to Ellis on the last lap......	....but an error and Neil had to settle for second

	Ellis does his famous 'tea pot' victory dance!

A Final Leg Three
Darren Bloomfield got away cleanly while a battle ensued behind into the first corner - plenty of wheels touching but most drivers still got through unscathed. Neil Cragg from second got tagged by Ellis and lost some places so Phil Sleigh went through for second with Lee Martin third. Lee rolled and dropped down the order as Sleigh and Tom Yardy took up the chase on Darren - but it was short lived as Ellis Stafford threw together a great couple of corners to pass both these drivers cleanly to take up the second place spot. Ellis was joined by Neil Cragg who'd recovered from his poor start and these too set about reeling in Darren. By this point Darren already had about four seconds on the chasing pair headed by Ellis, and that figure started to come down but the intense battle between Ellis and Neil for second cost them both as a series of mistakes & collisions saw Darren extend his lead.


Bloomfield lines up at the start knowing he has to win	Ellis gets all out of shape at the start

.....And collects Neil Cragg	Lee Martin was going well but crashed early

Ellis Stafford at high speed	Neil Cragg chases Ellis over the triple.

4WD - 1st June 2008

Round one of qualifying got underway with overcast skies and light rain started around heat 7 just as the faster drivers were starting to race - though it didn't last too long thankfully. Jim Dixon was driving the oOple review AERO and had a nice clean run, but it was lil Ben Jemison who was laying in 2nd overall after 8 heats and had a great run to finish 27th in round - beating Neil Cragg in the process.

Heat 9 saw to start of the F1 drivers and Darren Bloomfield setting off 10th had to pull through the entire field, which he did with ease putting down a very fast time of 12 laps in 311.57. In the next heat though, Both Ellis Stafford and Chris Doughty went even quicker - Ellis taking the first round on 12 laps in 308.35. Paul Bradby and Tom Cockerill rounded off the top five.

	Name	Result
1	Ellis Stafford	12/308.35
2	Chris Doughty	12/311.54
3	Darren Bloomfield	12/311.57
4	Paul Bradby	12/312.79
5	Tom Cockerill	12/316.99
6	Richard Lowe	12/319.23
7	Simon Moss	12/320.20
8	Craig Harris	12/321.38
9	Danny McGee	12/322.75
10	Andy Griffiths (Not Dave)	12/323.12

The HPI Baja 5B is ACE.

Round Two of qualifying and Darren Bloomfield made a couple of mistakes - ending in a broken front belt on his aging Losi XX4, and early retirement. Neil Cragg was going a lot quicker but a crash from Ben Riley collected Neil early on and lost him a little time. Ellis Stafford was again 'on fire' and took the second round of qualifying in a blistering time of 12 laps in 302.24 - second was Paul Bradby some 7 seconds astray on 12 laps in 309.31. Phil Slegh was right behind Paul and Neil Cragg a second further back in fourth.

	Name	Result
1	Ellis Stafford	12/302.24
2	Paul Bradby	12/309.31
3	Phil Sleigh	12/309.98
4	Neil Cragg	12/310.64
5	Chris Doughty	12/310.94
6	Tom Cockerill (Piespeed)	12/314.42
7	Danny McGee	12/314.68
8	Kev Lee	12/315.49
9	Grant Williams (Piespeed)	12/316.49
10	Tom Yardy	12/318.17

Round three and the previous days winner, Darren Bloomfield wasn't having a good time of it - an 8th in round was disqualified because his car wasn't scrutineered - a mistake but one that meant he'd have to produce the goods in the last qualifier to make the A. Ellis Stafford meanwhile was still 'off his puppies' and took the third round of qualifying on 12 laps in 306.88. Reigning National 4WD champion, Lee Martin, was second in round with his Associated B44, whilst Neil Cragg was getting it together with third in round.
Dan Greenwood claims to have helped counsel XFactory team mate Ellis, to help him achieve his current form - we love dan but also beleive he's on crack.

	Name	Result
1	Ellis Stafford	12/306.88
2	Lee Martin	12/308.97
3	Neil Cragg	12/312.77
4	Tom Yardy	12/314.68
5	Phil Sleigh	12/316.22
6	Kevin Lee	12/317.50
7	Richard Lowe	12/318.25
8	Tony Truman	12/318.63
9	Simon Moss	12/319.44
10	Chris Doughty	12/320.20

Team Xtreme boss Lewis Dickinson came to Talywain to watch and support his team drivers along with continue testing of some development parts. The most interesting of these are the new 'big bore' shock absorbers for the X11. The new shocks are easy to tell apart from the older items, being bright blue with Team Xtreme 'signature' orange bottom caps.

Stu Evans from Northernracer.com is currently reviewing the X11 - the review will appear on oOple.com soon.

From Team Xtreme: After extensive testing by Team Extreme we are proud to announce new bigger bore shocks with 25% larger oil capacity, the main advantage of the shocks is the ability when tuning to allow for a far more supple feel across bumps whilst still allowing more pack, this enables the car to handle larger jumps which seem to becoming the trend in off road racing nowadays. The new shocks are obvious in design thanks to the striking blue anodised coating along with Team Extremes now signature orange anodising on the cartridge. All parts for the shocks are available from Team Extreme as of now with options available from all spares to either pairs of shocks or a full set.

With any set of shocks bought Team Extreme will send out a setup for the x11 to help you get a running start. These are still being finalised and developments are happening all the time so keep an eye on the setup section of www.oople.com for the latest setups from the team and also in the news section for more developments that will follow shortly

After TQing the first three rounds of qualifying - Ellis couldn't quite make the perfect four-from-four - and had to settle for 8th in round 4, but it didn't matter. Neil Cragg took the top spot and his Yokomo BX was looking better each time out.

	Name	Result
1	Neil Cragg	12/310.59
2	Darren Bloomfield	12/311.58
3	Chris Doughty	12/312.33
4	Tom Yardy	12/317.06
5	Kevin Lee	12/317.66
6	Tom Cockerill	12/318.13
7	Lee Martin	12/318.14
8	Ellis Stafford	12/318.41
9	Adam Skelding	12/321.93
10	Tony Truman	12/323.29

Overall top 10 after 4 rounds was as follows:

	Name
1	Ellis Stafford
2	Neil Cragg
3	Chris Doughty
4	Darren Bloomfield
5	Paul Bradby
6	Phil Sleigh
7	Tom Yardy
8	Lee Martin
9	Tom Cockerill (Piespeed)
10	Kevin Lee

Ellis Stafford looks near-unstoppable, but nothing is guarenteed and when the buzzer starts it's anyones race. Neil Cragg surprised a few by taking the number two spot - his car didn't look great early on in the day despite his best driving efforts. Chris Doughty takes his Atomic Carbon 'Atomised' Associated B44 to third on the grid with some solid and consistent driving.

A Final Leg One
Ellis got out cleanly and after the first couple of corners number three car of Chris Doughty was out with a lost camber link rod. Neil Cragg was chasing Ellis Stafford but coming over the small corner table top jump got it wrong and ended up off the track - unfortunately Neil rejoined just as Darren Bloomfield was coming through for second, the two collided and Darren was out with a broken suspension arm.


Ellis leads them round	Neil Cragg makes a challenge for the inside line

Ellis still out front - Neil close behind makes a mistake	rejoining the track Neil gives Bloomfield nowhere to go and bloomfield has to retire with a broken car.

Neil was still in second and with Ellis now with a good lead he set about the task of catching. Phil Sleigh was up to third and Lee Martin was doing everything he could to get past - these two were the ones to watch with some insanely close racing - the current 4WD National Champ Lee doing everything he could to get past and being foiled at every attempt.


Lee Martin has Phil Sleigh in his sights	Lee bearing down on the Hot Bodies D4 of Sleigh

The two go through the air swapping paint	Phil couldn't hold Lee off forever and Lee made it through for third place.

Whilst the eyes were off the front pair, Neil had made up the gap and coming over the final jump for the leg win, Ellis had a desperate Neil Cragg to contend with as the pair became airborne at the same time leading up to the final corner - Neil just couldn't do it though and a bad landing saw him roll and miss the win by a second - Ellis took the first leg.


Neil makes a last challenge before the finish.	The faces say it all as Neil rolls and Ellis goes clear.

Leg one

Pos	Car	Name	Result
1	1	Ellis Stafford	12/ 315.34
2	2	Neil Cragg	12/ 316.92
3	8	Lee Martin	12/ 320.98
4	5	Paul Bradby	12/ 327.69
5	7	Tom Yardy	11/ 300.84
6	10	Kevin Lee	11/ 302.77
7	6	Phil Sleigh	11/ 303.64
8	9	Tom Cockerill	11/ 307.49
9	4	Darren Bloomfield	3/ 82.72
10	3	Chris Doughty	DNS

A Final Leg Two

Ellis got away in first with Neil Cragg chasing. Bloomfield was on a mission and started pressuing Cragg - Cragg rolled and Bloomfield set about catching Ellis. Ellis rolled over the coming over the double and Bloomfield was up to first and looked pretty comfortable.


Ellis Stafford leading them round again	Bloomfield chases Cragg

Cragg rolls over the ripples and Bloomfield goes up to second.	Bloomfield looks for a way past - and an error from Ellis sees Bloomfield up to first.

Chris Doughty took his Atomised B44 into second place behind Darren Bloomfield and stayed there till the end of the race - a roll on the last lap as the pair came over the double saw Doughty lose some ground and unable to catch. Bloomfield took the second leg with Doughty second and Paul Bradby with the AE B44 was third.


Tom Yardys Hot Bodies D4	Kev Lees AERO ONE over the double

Doughty was immensely quick in the second leg	Pushing too hard, Doughty rolled over the double and Bloomfield had some breathing room.

Leg Two

Pos	Car	Name	Result
1	4	Darren Bloomfield	12/ 313.13
2	3	Chris Doughty	12/ 317.53
3	5	Paul Bradby	12/ 321.66
4	1	Ellis Stafford	12/ 322.33
5	6	Phil Sleigh	12/ 322.77
6	9	Tom Cockerill	12/ 324.66
7	2	Neil Cragg	11/ 300.26
8	8	Lee Martin	11/ 300.72
9	7	Tom Yardy	11/ 301.51
10	10	Kevin Lee	11/ 320.06

Dan Greenwood and Richard Lowe were subject to a sustained barrage of vocal appreciation during their respective finals - shouts of 'Lowe Lowe, Don't go Slow', or the well rehersed 'Ooooh, Ahhhhh, yaaaaaay, Ohhhhhhhhh' that Dan got during his final - makes 10th off road somewhat more enjoyable rather than the dull silence of a field full of humming nitro vehicles. Apparently - I wouldn't say that tho.

A Final Leg Three
The first four paraded round the first lap in start order, coming over to finish lap 2 Chris Doughty made a mistake allowing Darren Bloomfield up to third. On lap three Darren made it past Neil as the two swapped some paint after the double jump. Ellis was still out front but Darren kept up the pace to slowly catch. The two were well matched and a small mistake from Ellis saw him and Darren collide - Darren waited and the order didn't change but now Neil Cragg was back in the game.


2nd/3rd/4th - Ellis out front	DoughtyChallenges Cragg for 2nd

Ellis lead for the first 5 laps	But holding off Darren Bloomfield wasn't easy.

Another mistake from Ellis saw Neil up to second and Darren some breathing room out front. Neil and Ellis had a 'battle royale' for second as the pair swapped positions - coming around the last corner Ellis crashed and Neil went clear for second while PAul Brady made the most of the situation by taking third with Ellis down to fourth.


2nd/3rd/4th - Ellis out front	Ellis Stafford and Darren Bloomfield conentrate on their battle

Bloomfield	But holding off Darren Bloomfield wasn't easy.

Finishing positions in leg three:

Pos	Car	Name	Result
1	4	Darren Bloomfield	12/ 320.51
2	2	Neil Cragg	12/ 321.85
3	5	Paul Bradby	12/ 322.39
4	1	Ellis Stafford	12/ 322.95
5	3	Chris Doughty	11/ 301.33
6	7	Tom Yardy	11/ 305.58
7	8	Lee Martin	11/ 307.12
8	6	Phil Sleigh	11/ 309.35
9	9	Tom Cockerill	11/ 311.23
10	10	Kevin Lee	11/ 317.40

Overall positions:

Pos	Car	Name	Result
1	4	Darren Bloomfield	2 [ 9 1 1]
2	2	Neil Cragg	4 [ 2 7 2]
3	1	Ellis Stafford	5 [ 1 4 4]
4	5	Paul Bradby	6 [ 4 3 3]
5	3	Chris Doughty	7 [ 10 2 5]
6	8	Lee Martin	10 [ 3 8 7]
7	7	Tom Yardy	11 [ 5 9 6]
8	6	Phil Sleigh	12 [ 7 5 8]
9	9	Tom Cockerill	14 [ 8 6 9]
10	10	Kevin Lee	16 [ 6 10 10]

The Ageing Losi cars still have some life left in them yet - Darren Bloomfields Losi XXXCR and Losi XX4

Darren Bloomfield completed a hugely successful return to the 10th off road National series with a hard-fought double victory with his Losi vehicles. It'd be easy to discount Darren before this weekend with the time off he's had, but it clearly didn't ruin his incredible pace.

Hot off a double victory at the previous National round, Ellis Stafford had a great weekend at Talywain, but some unfortunate incidents cost him wins on both days - he's sure to be back.

Thanks to the Talywain crew for a well run meeting and a good effort on their first National.

supported by PIESPEED - without them there would be no report!


2WD Photos	4WD Photos